On Wednesday, November 27, Islamabad found traffic jams and commercial activity after a standoff between supporters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan and the authorities. During the night, shots rang out in the city where burned vehicles lit up neighborhoods plunged into darkness. In the morning, no demonstrators were visible, only ashes and debris remained which municipal employees were busy removing. Clashes broke out on Tuesday between Pakistani security forces and thousands of supporters of the former prime minister, who entered Islamabad early in the morning to demand his release. “Those who have not yet joined the demonstration should go to D-Chowk” – a square at the gates of the capital’s government district – Mr. Khan wrote on X. Police and paramilitaries threw grenades tear gas, which demonstrators threw back at them. Security forces also fired rubber bullets. According to Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, “four paramilitaries were killed” on Tuesday. The Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, declared that they had “been run over by a vehicle during an attack” carried out “by demonstrators”. On Wednesday, an Islamabad police chief announced that around 1,000 protesters had been arrested since Sunday. The security forces, mobilized en masse, “arrested 954 demonstrators in three days, including 610 on Tuesday”, when more than 10,000 demonstrators had defied the cordons of police and paramilitaries to try to approach the district where the government is based. , announced Inspector General Ali Nasir Rizvi. He also reported “71 members of the security forces injured”. Authorities also reported that one police officer was killed and that nine others were in critical condition, without giving further details. Since Sunday, “more than 20,000 members of the security forces have been deployed in and around Islamabad,” Mohammed Taqi, spokesperson for the capital’s police, announced to Agence France-Presse (AFP). Islamabad schools, closed since Monday, must reopen on Thursday, according to Mohsin Naqvi; and the Internet, which had been cut “in areas where there are security dangers”, will also be restored on Thursday. The Minister of the Interior also congratulated his troops for having “courageously pushed back the demonstrators” and ordered to “lift the roadblocks” and “clean up” after having “inspected the damage caused by the outlaws”. “Agree, rather than playing on the feelings of activists” For the Pakistan Human Rights Commission, it is time that “the government and the opposition immediately begin a constructive political dialogue”. They must “agree to move forward peacefully rather than playing on the feelings of their activists to bring the country to a standstill and, in doing so, undermine freedom of movement and above all the livelihood of others,” continues the main NGO defending freedoms in the country. Le Monde Mémorable Test your general knowledge with the editorial staff of “Le Monde” Test your general knowledge with the editorial staff of “Le Monde” Discover Faced with the risk of violence, American diplomacy had also “urged” Monday evening “the demonstrators to demonstrate peacefully” and “asked the Pakistani authorities to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms.” If all night long the local media spoke of attempts at negotiations between the government and Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI, Pakistan Movement for Justice), few imagine a calm de-escalation. The call to demonstrate had been launched for Sunday. The demonstrators left from the provinces bordering the capital, Punjab, in the east, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, stronghold of the PTI, in the west. It took them more than forty-eight hours to reach Islamabad. Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers In Pakistan, the party of the imprisoned former prime minister is threatened with ban Read later In response to what the PTI presented as “its last act”, the authorities pulled out all the stops. At the start of the week, Islamabad had triggered “article 144”, which prohibits any gathering of more than four people for two months. Punjab, where more than half of Pakistanis live, followed suit on Saturday, with a similar decision, but limited to three days. “Given the scale of the preparations, one wonders if the Islamabad police are preparing for war,” Dawn, the leading English-language daily, wondered on Wednesday. Throughout the capital, for days, hundreds of containers have been placed across the roads by cranes. “Islamabad will once again transform into “Containeristan”, as locals call it. Is this really necessary, the question arises,” continues Dawn. Imran Khan, in power from 2018 to 2022, is being prosecuted before various courts mainly for cases of corruption or violent demonstrations by his supporters. In July, a panel of United Nations experts described his detention as “arbitrary,” calling for his “immediate” release. Read also | In Pakistan, Parliament adopts a controversial judicial reform Read later Le Monde with AFP Reuse this content
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Author : News7
Publish date : 2024-11-27 18:37:00
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